Steam Sky
by TheSocialBookWorm
Summary: Machines made correctly out of Flames were powerful. Machines made correctly from Sky Flames even more so. Someone like the Sky Lion, who made some of the most powerful machinery in the world would be imposing. The exact opposite of Tsuna. Right? Steampunk AU What have I gotten myself into?
1. Chapter 1

AN- Me: Ok, last new one for a while. I hope...

Muse Kitty: Purr

Me: You're gonna overwork me. *Sigh* I love you anyways.

Muse Kitty: Purr

ADOPTED from Wolf'srainrules. (Again)

Disclaimer- I don't own Reborn

Chapter 1

Tsuna sighed, hiking his bag up higher on his shoulder as he headed towards his destination, blending into the crowd as best as he could. There were calls from vendors, and the sky above was covered in clouds like it usually was in a city even as small as Namimori. All the condensation from the steam had to go somewhere after all. The entire town was abuzz with the news of the competition that was going to be hosted there, and Tsuna ducked a little bit further down into the collar of his cloak, fiddling with the goggles around his neck that weren't actually for work.

A competition meant that Smiths from around the world were going to be showing up to display their wares in hopes of winning, but truly in hopes that a Sky Smith would notice and Harmonize with them.

Tsuna mused on that as he turned down another street, neatly dodging a stray gear as an apprentice Smith made a mistake and it went flying away from her machine. Tsuna could tell that even if the workmanship hadn't been shoddy, it wouldn't have worked well anyways. The Smith didn't have pure enough flames for it too.

Machinery and jewelry made with Flames not only had better quality, lasting longer, but it took on properties of the Flames that were used to craft them. Rain machinery ran smoother, and Rain jewelry helped its wearer fall asleep. Storm weapons were more powerful, and Lighting armor was said to stop just about any hit.

It depended on the Smith as well, a weak Lightning could accidentally make armor that would shatter at the slightest touch. Or Rain jewelry that kept someone up all night instead of letting them sleep. Not that things like that didn't have their uses, but only if they were made that way on purpose.

But then there were Skies. Not only did being Harmonized with a Sky drastically increase the quality of wares that a Smith could create, but the power of Harmony infused in a Skies wares had nearly infinite potential. A powerful enough Harmony could be infused with someone else's Flames, taking on those properties. And that wasn't even starting on items made by a full set of Elements.

Machinery made by the Arcobaleno for example could only be bought at absurd prices, millions of dollars for only one piece. A justified price, after all most other full Element wares were priceless and only passed hands as gifts. If the rumors Tsuna had heard were true, then the Arcobaleno each had a machine that was indistinguishable from an animal but had unique powers that augmented their users combat skills. A miracle of science, everyone whispered, some thing that really pushed the bounds of the laws of physics.

But even the Arcobaleno had gone through two Skies in the last two years, and no one knew why. Sky Smiths everywhere were disappearing or dying with no explanation behind it. As Skies retreated and hid for their own safety, other Smiths grew desperate to find one that was willing to risk death and Harmonize with them. Quality of life steadily dropped as machinery that had once been only uncommon, became rare and even more highly valued.

Tsuna turned down another corner, a soft smile growing on his lips. He didn't think that any Sky could ignore the whispers that came from metal. At least, Tsuna couldn't. He had always thought that forging had been a lot like a conversation. Certain chunks of metal wanted to be made into something specific, which was why Tsuna never took any commissions, just sold the occasional piece that he made when he ran short on money. It wasn't often, whatever his father did, it made huge amounts of money even if he was never home.

Metal that was made into something it didn't want to be always came out weaker in a way, the metal fighting against its new shape. When it was made into something that it wanted to be it would do everything in its power to stay in that shape. At least, that's what Tsuna had learned from his experience.

The teen glanced both ways down the street he was on before pulling the hood of his cloak up over his head and ducking into an alleyway. He walked with greater confidence, reaching for the Mist imbued in the goggles around his neck. Nothing about him physically changed, but a quick glance at one of the windows he passed confirmed that the illusion worked into it was working, increasing his height and width, making him look like an adult. He tugged the hood a little higher up on his head, obscuring his features a little bit more in the shadows.

He stopped at the corner of two alleys, leaning back against the wall and folding his arms in forced casualness. Every time he did this, his heart started to race, but he did it anyways.

A sharply dressed woman turned down the alley, glancing back and forth, and Tsuna recognized her as a fellow Sky, weak in power though. She hesitated at the corner, and Tsuna pushed off of it smoothly, making her jump. He held out a small pair of earrings, glinting even in the dim light, the feeling of Harmony rolling off of them. Her eyes widened, and she reached out for them in awe. Tsuna pulled them back, holding his other hand out in wait. A glint entered the woman's eyes, one that Tsuna was familiar with.

"You call that workmanship?" she tried to bluff, "I wouldn't pay a third of the price for something as shoddy as that."

Tsuna didn't say anything, his voice would simply give the game away, instead he dropped both hands, folding them back into his cloak and turning to leave. Not many Smiths would turn away from a payment altogether, haggling instead for a better price, but Tsuna knew exactly how much his wares were worth. He wouldn't take anything less than his stated price.

"W-wait!" the woman called out on his third step, just enough to show her he was serious, and Tsuna pivoted to face her once more. "Half the price!" Tsuna didn't budge, and the woman grew more frantic, "Three-fourths!"

Tsuna started to turn around again, and the woman burst out again, "Fine! The full price and a little bit extra for your trouble!"

Tsuna stopped, and calmly turned back to her, taking a few steps closer, and holding his hand out to her again. She practically shoved the money into his hands, and shifted anxiously as he counted it. Finally he held the earrings out to her once more and she snatched them, her eyes softening the moment she touched them.

"They're gorgeous," she whispered, turning them over in her hands. She froze as the carving of a roaring lion that was at the very bottom, and her eyes widened in surprise.

"You're the Sky Lion?!" she shouted, her head whipping up, only to see the edge of his cloak disappearing around the corner. Tsuna had to resist the urge to chuckle as he listened to her fading surprise and confusion. His feet moved silently as he moved through the twisting and turning alleys easily. His childhood had been spent exploring it, looking for scraps to use in his creations from as early as six lears old.

He let the Mist illusion fade when he started to hear the sounds of the streets again, and he slowed, pulling the hood from his face. He strode out into the crowd and let the mass of bodies push him in the direction of his house. Tsuna grinned, feeling the money jingle in his pocket. He finally had enough for the material he wanted to order, though it would be several weeks before the post went through and another several before it came in. He couldn't wait though.

He would finally be able to finish that project.

The streets thinned out as he reached the residential district and as he turned the corner to his house and barely started to wonder why it was empty, a voice cut into his thoughts.

"Herbivore." Hibari pushed off of the wall he was leaning on, stalking forward into Tsuna's space. The Sky Smith blinked, trying his best not to back up. The Cloud was known to respect strength, and stepping back was anything but powerful.

Tsuna inclined his head at the enforcer. Hibari not only built some of the most powerful weapons Tsuna had ever seen, but he used them with incredible strength as well, enforcing the law in the town and keeping others out of the territory. He knew he had to be very careful with his work because of the enforcer, though he hadn't broken any laws except for the implied one that Skies reveal themselves so that they could find their Elements. Most Skies were starting to break that one in self preservation.

"Hn," Hibari huffed, his eyes narrowing as he studied Tsuna. Tsuna tried his best to straighten his back and stand tall beneath the glare that the Cloud sent him. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he felt like this was important. The two of them stood there for several moments, staring at each other before Hibari's glare faded and he smirked.

"You'll work, Omnivore," he declared, and then his Flames were leaping forward at Tsuna. Tsuna's own Flames lept forward on instinct, ready to defend from any sort of attack. Amber and violet clashed in the street, and Tsuna was unprepared for how they _sang_ together once they hit, twining around each other before fading. Tsuna felt breathless at the sudden Harmonization, but Hibari's eyes glowed with satisfaction despite the flash of surprise Tsuna had caught on his face when the Flames collided. Hibari nodded at him, and stalked off, looking for all the world like the cat that got the canary before disappearing around the corner.

Tsuna felt his hands shake as he brought them up to his chest, feeling the warmth there of the new bond. The Cloud Flames were _purring_ , for lack of a better word. They twisted around his own Flames, and it should have felt weird, almost violating in the suddenness of the Harmonization, but it was like the Flames were made for each other with how perfect they were. It was a giddying feeling, but one that only highlighted the lack of Elements that Tsuna had.

He scrubbed a hand over his face, before sighing. He would have to talk to Hibari tomorrow about what happened, how the Cloud even knew Tsuna was a Sky in the first place, and what the two of them were going to do about it. For now though, Tsuna pressed his hand down on his chest as if his hand could feel the warmth of his soul and turned to walk the rest of the way home.


	2. Chapter 2

AN- Ahhhhh sorry for the long wait guys ;w; I didn't get distracted not at all. Hopefully, I'll get another chapter of something else up soon as well. Uh, Muse Kitty sort of made a break for it lately. She'll be back soon!

Chapter 2

"Mama!" Tsuna yelled, slipping off his shoes, "I'm home!"

"Welcome home, Tsu-kun!" Nana called from the kitchen, and he headed in that direction, carefully stripping his cloak and bags as he walked. He made a mental note to take care of those later, and poked his head into the kitchen. Nana was standing over the stove, the pipes rattling slightly as the steam flowed through them and Tsuna made another mental note to replace them when he got the right materials.

"How was your walk?" Nana asked him, stirring their dinner carefully, but still turning to look at him.

"It was fine," Tsuna replied, hesitant to tell her about what had happened with Hibari, "Talbot-jiji isn't home is he?"

"Talbot-san is in the basement as usual," Nana replied brightly before pouting, "Mou Tsu-kun, you spend all your time with Talbot-san lately. I miss seeing you around the house."

"You're the one that insisted that I spend time with him," Tsuna said defensively, snagging a piece of bread to munch on from the table. "I would have been fine ignoring him." His nonexistent father was the one who had invited the elderly man in and told Nana that Talbot had been a friend to his great-great-great-great grandfather.

Tsuna hadn't been sold on the whole thing, but Nana had insisted that he spend time with their new resident. Of course, there were days that the teen wondered if she would be as supportive of him spending time with Talbot if she knew the full extent of what he was learning. She seemed to be under the impression that Talbot mostly gave Tsuna life advice or told him stories about what the world had been like before the Reveal.

Nana laughed brightly and ruffled his hair, "Mama has to finish dinner. Tell Talbot-san that it will be ready soon, and don't lose track of time listening to his stories again."

Tsuna flushed and pushed her hand out of his hair. "It only happened once!" he insisted, backing out of the room. He spun on his heels and fled the kitchen, faintly hearing Nana murmur to herself as she wondered what she was going to do with the two of them. Tsuna wondered what she would have done without them. He didn't know if she was aware of it, but a fairly large chunk of their income came from Tsuna selling the various machines that had been made in the basement.

It wasn't a true Forge so they were limited in what they could do, and in fact, their larger items wouldn't be the quality that they could be since they had to buy some of the materials and not just make everything from scratch. Tsuna didn't mind though, and Talbot had said that such an environment would force Tsuna to learn how to deal with delicate parts early on.

Nana knew that both of them were Flame Actives; it was impossible to keep that a secret with the number of homemade machines around the house. But she didn't know what type they were. Even Tsuna didn't know what Talbot's Primary Flames were, as his mentor had used several in front of him, and none of them had felt right. He tried his best to smother his curiosity though since Talbot didn't have to teach him how to Smith. The elderly Smith could have left Tsuna to figure out how to do it himself like so many other small town teens.

He ran his hands along the walls as he made his way down the feeling the vibrations from the pipes and gears that ran the house, and he hummed under his breath as he noted the ones that needed to be repaired and the ones that he would need to ask Talbot about to see if he was right about them needing to be repaired. The metal murmured back at him, and he felt a smile creep up his face. Hopefully the repairs could be done without having to replace the metal itself, Tsuna couldn't help but get attached.

His feet hit the bottom of the steps and he let his eyes linger on the door that stood in his way. It had been mostly Talbot's work, but he could faintly feel the drifts of Harmony that he had contributed to the mechanism. It would respond to certain vibrations, which would cause the first gears to start and heat up the water inside, the resulting steam would power the rest of it, and open the door. Which simply translated into meaning that if someone knew the right knock, they could get it open.

He laid a hand on the door to get a feel for the Flames infused in it, and sent his own out into it to deal with some of the problems that had cropped up. He pulled the fighting Cloud and Mist flames apart, calmed the Storm, encouraged the Lightning, propped up the Rain, and supported the Sun. As the rowdy Flames settled down, Tsuna could see the affect it had on the door as some of the scratches on it slowly faded away. He gave it a friendly pat, and then knocked out the sequence of seven short, nine long, and six short.

He stepped back as the door shuddered and creaked as the gears started to turn, and as they ran it grew silent until the door slid to the side and Tsuna slipped his goggles on out of habit. The heat hit his face and Tsuna grinned as he realized that his mentor must have been working on something that moment.

He walked forward confidently, ducking under some low hanging gears that weren't in use and made his way over to the hunched over Talbot in the back. The bright yellow of Sun Flames caught his attention, and Tsuna hovered to the side, wondering what his mentor was making. It would be small and delicate from the way that the man's hands dwarfed whatever he was working on, fingers flying even as Flames leapt off of them.

When Talbot cupped his hands around them and intensified his Flames, Tsuna knew that he was almost done, watching as the almost too bright light slowly slipped away, disappearing into to the object as Talbot infused it with his Flames. Tsuna pulled his goggles up as the light finally disappeared and the old man turned around to face him.

"Talbot-sensei!" Tsuna greeted with a wave and a grin.

"Ah, Tsuna just in time," Talbot grinned back. "Tell me how this feels." He tossed a chain at the Sky Smith and Tsuna caught it in one hand.

He ran his hands over it, marveling at the warmth still coming from the links. He blinked, and reached out for a different pair of goggles he had hanging off of the wall in the workshop. Talbot watched him pull them on with a bemused smile, just waiting for him to get it. The goggles that Tsuna put on magnified what he could see, and he held the chain up to one of the lights and then as close to his face as he could get.

Each little link in the chain had lines, joints in them, and he ran a finger over one to see what it would do. He blinked at the jump of Sun flames that he could feel and when he pulled his finger back and rubbed it against some others to get a better feel, the hand that still held the chain could feel the tiny gears in it click together and the joints were twisting, forming a different shape. Tsuna gaped at the glove he now held in his hand, and twisted it around.

"That's amazing Sensei!" he exclaimed, "Internal or external healing? It feels like healing is what you want the Sun flames to do."

"Correct Tsuna," Talbot said with amusement, "Internal. Whatever part of the body that it takes shape as will be healed. How many uses do you feel in it before more Flames need to be infused in it?"

Tsuna turned his attention back to the glove in his hand and concentrated his senses to see if he could feel the amount of Flames his mentor had placed in his latest work. The rolling energy inside the metal wasn't the same tidal wave that Talbot was able to infuse, but it wasn't the calm creek that most of the mass produced products had. The familiar feel of them licked at his own Flames, and he narrowed his eyes.

"Uh, seven?" he asked hesitantly, and Talbot raised an eyebrow at him. "Seven," he repeated firmly, and grinned at the amused look that his teacher gave him.

"Very good," Talbot praised, turning back to his workbench. "It won't save you from really bad injuries but it can be of use to you any way I believe. Don't lose it."

Tsuna stared at the old man for a long moment and then tapped the glove again watching it click back into the chain and pulling it to his chest. "Thank you Sensei."

Talbot chuckled and then glanced back at him. "Now you wouldn't have come down here without a reason. What can I do for you?"

"That's not true Sensei," Tsuna protested immediately as he pulled up a bench to sit next to the old man. "I come down to spend time with you-"

"But," Talbot said with a smirk and Looked at him.

Tsuna grinned sheepishly, "You taught me how to court Elements that I wanted should I find them, and how to accept or reject a courtship should someone find out the nature of my Flames." The old man nodded and eyed him. Tsuna flushed and muttered, "So uh, what do I do if we just Harmonize? No warning or courting. Just-"

Talbot looked even more amused if nothing else, and Tsuna sunk down in his spot. "And who," the old man looked like he was enjoying this, the bastard. "Did you actually managed to pull into your orbit this time young man?"

Tsuna's hands flailed as he protested, "I didn't do anything Talbot-Jiji! Hibari-san just cornered me on my way home and we- we Harmonized." He turned his large brown eyes on his mentor and blinked at the way the amusement drained from Talbot's face.

"So this is how it begins," the old man murmured, and Tsuna leaned in.

"Talbot-sensei?" he questioned, and the inventor shook his head, reaching out and ruffling his hair. Tsuna squawked at the action and tumbled off of his spot.

"Don't worry about it quite yet," Talbot said with a chuckle. "What you need to do right now is find a good acceptance gift if you're going to keep the Harmonization. It would be rude not to."

Tsuna flushed and pulled himself from the ground. "I don't know if I am though. Going to keep the Harmonization Jiji. Hibari-san is-" Tsuna pulled a face, and looked down at his hands, feeling the Flames in his core twining around his own. It felt so _right_ though. He took a deep breath. "I'll think about it. Thanks Jiji!"

He headed for the stairs back up to his own room, and missed the grave eyes that Talbot watched him with.


End file.
